1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to therapeutic devices for veterinary use and, more specifically to therapeutic spray apparatus for treating the legs of horses, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Because injuries to the leg of a horse can be quite serious, it is very important to devise means for treating these injuries when they occur. Perhaps, sprains, bruises, and swelling in the ankle or knee are the most frequently treated of these injuries, although "splints" or "bucked shins", a condition that affects the tendon between the ankle and the knee, also occurs and requires treatment.
Often the treatment for these conditions is quite primitive, e.g., requiring an attendant to stand by the hour with a garden hose, spraying the afflicted part of the horse's leg, or to laboriously hand rub a topical application to the injured member. More modern treatment might involve bandaging the injury or placing two of the horse's legs in a bucket of water, or water and epsom salts. A device in the bucket blows air bubbles through the liquid to circulate the liquid and to produce a mild massaging effect.
Clearly, all of these techniques leave a great deal to be desired. Spraying the leg with a garden hose or massaging or bandaging consumes a great deal of time and labor, not to mention the physical risk to the attendant in touching the injured leg of a horse. Air bubble agitation also is unsatisfactory because the massaging effect is very mild, most of the bubbles flowing through the liquid and bypassing the injured area. Further in this regard, the bucket containing the water must be quite large in order to accommodate both of the horse's fore legs or hind legs. In this respect, it is a characteristic of horses that they will not place only one leg in a large bucket. Both the injured leg and its companion fore- or hind leg must be placed in the bucket.
In these circumstances, large quantities of water and, if required, epsom salts must be used to fill the bucket. The full bucket becomes unwieldy and requires a wasteful excess of epsom salts.
Accordingly, there is a clear need to provide some better and more efficient means to treat an injured horse leg.